"No matter where I serve my guests, it seems they like my kitchen best."

HANGER STEAK RULES!

Here in my part of the world it is nearly impossible to find hanger steak in our supermarkets. After years of reading about the tenderness and delicious flavor of this “butcher’s cut”, I was determined to find one to cook at home. I have seen it on the menu of Rue Dumaine, a wonderful restaurant near Dayton, Ohio, but I always chose a different item. My husband, however, did order it on two occasions and pronounced it wonderful.

In my “recipes to fix someday” file – which will require me to live to 150 in order to accomplish – I had a few recipes for hanger steak, one for pan-roasting and the other for grilling. I split the difference and used the marinade for the grilled steak and the sauce from the pan-roasted steak. We had broccolini and browned butter mashed potatoes as accompaniments.

For the marinade, I mixed a version of Chef Anne Burrell’s hanger steak recipe from the Food Network, some dijon, chopped garlic, a little rosemary, lemon juice and zest. I smeared it on the steak, bagged it up, and let it hang out in the frig for a couple of hours. When ready to cook it, I let it sit on the counter for a while to come to room temperature, then salted it, and got to work. For the sauce prep, I peeled and sliced 4 large shallots, put red wine vinegar and some dry red wine at the ready, and picked a few stems of parsley from the garden. The sauce recipe is from Daniel Boulud’s Cafe Boulod Cookbook via Epicurious.

The broccolini (a cross between broccoli and kale, I believe) is a little daintier than broccoli and maybe a little milder in taste. It takes just a few minutes to steam and we like it sprinkled with a little Parmesan or Asiago.

I delegated the mashed potatoes preparation to my husband. I had already browned some butter (slowly and stirring nearly constantly) and set it aside.All he had to do was peel and cut the potatoes, cook them and mash them up with some of the browned butter, buttermilk and whole milk, salt and pepper. He drizzled the rest of the butter over the finished product.

I must admit that the red wine reduction renders the sauce a very dark, almost chocolate color, which some might find off-putting. The taste more than made up for it, I assure you.

Remember to cook the steak to medium-rare at the most! I understand that hanger steak, very tender at rare and slightly beyond, can become tough if cooked to well done. Slice it against the grain and it will reward you with delicious, juicy tenderness and taste.